Another solid race weekend. Pit stop error cost him though as he got stuck behind slower cars but with a lot more power so he couldn't even attempt to get himself back out of trouble. This is where it sucks to be powered by Honda, any other power unit and the car advantage he had and the pace he had would have been enough to get back in front but alas.

Alonso's a boss around there so all things considered not too bad. He's been closer recently than a few of Alonso's team mates but doesn't seem to be getting much recognition for it, maybe everyone's expectation was just too high.

Trulli,JB and Hamilton being the exceptions to the above. (Trulli because of his one-lap pace obviously).

_________________"Clark came through at the end of the first lap so far ahead that we in the pits were convinced that the rest of the field must have been wiped out in an accident."-Eddie Dennis, describing the dominance of Jim Clark in the Lotus 49 at Spa 1967

He had a great weekend. Happy to see he seems to be getting used to his car and F1 itself. Good qualifying (hampered by loss of power in Q3 though), overtaking some other drivers (Sainz most notably?) on Monza with a McHonda - that's good stuff.

But once again I find myself scratching my head thinking about McLaren's "strategy" for him this race. Not going for the obvious (well, to me anyway) undercut on Kvyat, going long on the super softs, losing time in the process - why? Just pit him in the window with the others around him?

He had a great weekend. Happy to see he seems to be getting used to his car and F1 itself. Good qualifying (hampered by loss of power in Q3 though), overtaking some other drivers (Sainz most notably?) on Monza with a McHonda - that's good stuff.

But once again I find myself scratching my head thinking about McLaren's "strategy" for him this race. Not going for the obvious (well, to me anyway) undercut on Kvyat, going long on the super softs, losing time in the process - why? Just pit him in the window with the others around him?

Did he not have yet another slow pit stop?

This seems to be quite common for McLaren this season almost like they've let their standards drop?

“The work that we have been doing with Stoffel and its engineers for the last few weeks is starting to pay off, said Boullier speaking to Belgian TV broadcaster RTBF in Austria. Each time he enters the circuit, he's right on track.

“A lot of people forget that it takes some time for young drivers to adapt to the demands of F1, especially in terms of braking. It took Vettel six months at Toro Rosso, same for Verstappen, Ricciardo, and others who went through the same learning process before graduating to Red Bull fully prepared.

"The tricky thing for Stoffel is that he is racing for one of the most high-profile teams on the grid and alongside one of the best drivers. But when the car is delivering, he is only one tenth adrift.”

...........................

If true that would make Stoff the second quickest team mate for Alonso after Lewis.

_________________"Clark came through at the end of the first lap so far ahead that we in the pits were convinced that the rest of the field must have been wiped out in an accident."-Eddie Dennis, describing the dominance of Jim Clark in the Lotus 49 at Spa 1967

“The work that we have been doing with Stoffel and its engineers for the last few weeks is starting to pay off, said Boullier speaking to Belgian TV broadcaster RTBF in Austria. Each time he enters the circuit, he's right on track.

“A lot of people forget that it takes some time for young drivers to adapt to the demands of F1, especially in terms of braking. It took Vettel six months at Toro Rosso, same for Verstappen, Ricciardo, and others who went through the same learning process before graduating to Red Bull fully prepared.

"The tricky thing for Stoffel is that he is racing for one of the most high-profile teams on the grid and alongside one of the best drivers. But when the car is delivering, he is only one tenth adrift.”

...........................

If true that would make Stoff the second quickest team mate for Alonso after Lewis.

Interesting what's being said about the braking, Montoya said that was the hardest thing for him to learn in F1 as well.

“The work that we have been doing with Stoffel and its engineers for the last few weeks is starting to pay off, said Boullier speaking to Belgian TV broadcaster RTBF in Austria. Each time he enters the circuit, he's right on track.

“A lot of people forget that it takes some time for young drivers to adapt to the demands of F1, especially in terms of braking. It took Vettel six months at Toro Rosso, same for Verstappen, Ricciardo, and others who went through the same learning process before graduating to Red Bull fully prepared.

"The tricky thing for Stoffel is that he is racing for one of the most high-profile teams on the grid and alongside one of the best drivers. But when the car is delivering, he is only one tenth adrift.”

...........................

If true that would make Stoff the second quickest team mate for Alonso after Lewis.

Interesting what's being said about the braking, Montoya said that was the hardest thing for him to learn in F1 as well.

It is yeah, they talked about it earlier in the season and that he was braking too late. Alonso was braking earlier to carry more speed through the corners and increase his exit speed because the driveability was so poor in and on exit of the corners and Stoff just braked like he was in GP2 still or last years car and couldn't carry the same speed and get back on the throttle early enough.

I think in a more normal behaving car the gap wouldn't have been so dramatic. Since they solved that and Stoff has made some adjustments to his braking we've seen the gap halve and then some. I think he'd have beaten Alonso cleanly in GB,Spa and Monza pretty easily to be honest. Baku was close but poor strategy and Austria apparently he was too cautious through the last 2 corners.

If they're both there next year I think we'll see what we were expecting to see this year and a much better battle.

_________________"Clark came through at the end of the first lap so far ahead that we in the pits were convinced that the rest of the field must have been wiped out in an accident."-Eddie Dennis, describing the dominance of Jim Clark in the Lotus 49 at Spa 1967

“The work that we have been doing with Stoffel and its engineers for the last few weeks is starting to pay off, said Boullier speaking to Belgian TV broadcaster RTBF in Austria. Each time he enters the circuit, he's right on track.

“A lot of people forget that it takes some time for young drivers to adapt to the demands of F1, especially in terms of braking. It took Vettel six months at Toro Rosso, same for Verstappen, Ricciardo, and others who went through the same learning process before graduating to Red Bull fully prepared.

"The tricky thing for Stoffel is that he is racing for one of the most high-profile teams on the grid and alongside one of the best drivers. But when the car is delivering, he is only one tenth adrift.”

...........................

If true that would make Stoff the second quickest team mate for Alonso after Lewis.

Interesting what's being said about the braking, Montoya said that was the hardest thing for him to learn in F1 as well.

It is yeah, they talked about it earlier in the season and that he was braking too late. Alonso was braking earlier to carry more speed through the corners and increase his exit speed because the driveability was so poor in and on exit of the corners and Stoff just braked like he was in GP2 still or last years car and couldn't carry the same speed and get back on the throttle early enough.

I think in a more normal behaving car the gap wouldn't have been so dramatic. Since they solved that and Stoff has made some adjustments to his braking we've seen the gap halve and then some. I think he'd have beaten Alonso cleanly in GB,Spa and Monza pretty easily to be honest. Baku was close but poor strategy and Austria apparently he was too cautious through the last 2 corners.

If they're both there next year I think we'll see what we were expecting to see this year and a much better battle.

I think with Montoya he wasn't braking late enough which I think is common for new drivers, Vandoorne's problem seems to be different, maybe that relates to the Honda engine itself if it lacks grunt?

“The work that we have been doing with Stoffel and its engineers for the last few weeks is starting to pay off, said Boullier speaking to Belgian TV broadcaster RTBF in Austria. Each time he enters the circuit, he's right on track.

“A lot of people forget that it takes some time for young drivers to adapt to the demands of F1, especially in terms of braking. It took Vettel six months at Toro Rosso, same for Verstappen, Ricciardo, and others who went through the same learning process before graduating to Red Bull fully prepared.

"The tricky thing for Stoffel is that he is racing for one of the most high-profile teams on the grid and alongside one of the best drivers. But when the car is delivering, he is only one tenth adrift.”

...........................

If true that would make Stoff the second quickest team mate for Alonso after Lewis.

Interesting what's being said about the braking, Montoya said that was the hardest thing for him to learn in F1 as well.

It is yeah, they talked about it earlier in the season and that he was braking too late. Alonso was braking earlier to carry more speed through the corners and increase his exit speed because the driveability was so poor in and on exit of the corners and Stoff just braked like he was in GP2 still or last years car and couldn't carry the same speed and get back on the throttle early enough.

I think in a more normal behaving car the gap wouldn't have been so dramatic. Since they solved that and Stoff has made some adjustments to his braking we've seen the gap halve and then some. I think he'd have beaten Alonso cleanly in GB,Spa and Monza pretty easily to be honest. Baku was close but poor strategy and Austria apparently he was too cautious through the last 2 corners.

If they're both there next year I think we'll see what we were expecting to see this year and a much better battle.

I think with Montoya he wasn't braking late enough which I think is common for new drivers, Vandoorne's problem seems to be different, maybe that relates to the Honda engine itself if it lacks grunt?

I'm not entirely sure but I think it must be either these regs or the state of that Honda unit before Spain aye (Or a mix of both) because he had no problem with braking late in last years car at Bahrain, he was very good. And I've never heard of braking too late being such a problem before but it was just costing him too much time this year apparently.

Seems cured now whatever it was.

_________________"Clark came through at the end of the first lap so far ahead that we in the pits were convinced that the rest of the field must have been wiped out in an accident."-Eddie Dennis, describing the dominance of Jim Clark in the Lotus 49 at Spa 1967

“The work that we have been doing with Stoffel and its engineers for the last few weeks is starting to pay off, said Boullier speaking to Belgian TV broadcaster RTBF in Austria. Each time he enters the circuit, he's right on track.

“A lot of people forget that it takes some time for young drivers to adapt to the demands of F1, especially in terms of braking. It took Vettel six months at Toro Rosso, same for Verstappen, Ricciardo, and others who went through the same learning process before graduating to Red Bull fully prepared.

"The tricky thing for Stoffel is that he is racing for one of the most high-profile teams on the grid and alongside one of the best drivers. But when the car is delivering, he is only one tenth adrift.”

...........................

If true that would make Stoff the second quickest team mate for Alonso after Lewis.

Interesting what's being said about the braking, Montoya said that was the hardest thing for him to learn in F1 as well.

It is yeah, they talked about it earlier in the season and that he was braking too late. Alonso was braking earlier to carry more speed through the corners and increase his exit speed because the driveability was so poor in and on exit of the corners and Stoff just braked like he was in GP2 still or last years car and couldn't carry the same speed and get back on the throttle early enough.

I think in a more normal behaving car the gap wouldn't have been so dramatic. Since they solved that and Stoff has made some adjustments to his braking we've seen the gap halve and then some. I think he'd have beaten Alonso cleanly in GB,Spa and Monza pretty easily to be honest. Baku was close but poor strategy and Austria apparently he was too cautious through the last 2 corners.

If they're both there next year I think we'll see what we were expecting to see this year and a much better battle.

I think with Montoya he wasn't braking late enough which I think is common for new drivers, Vandoorne's problem seems to be different, maybe that relates to the Honda engine itself if it lacks grunt?

I'm not entirely sure but I think it must be either these regs or the state of that Honda unit before Spain aye (Or a mix of both) because he had no problem with braking late in last years car at Bahrain, he was very good. And I've never heard of braking too late being such a problem before but it was just costing him too much time this year apparently.

Seems cured now whatever it was.

It could be linked to the action or the regeneration and brake by wire which ( used to ) sometimes vary slightly. There is no direct link to the pads, it is all done by electronics and feel is probably an acquired thing